Bright Eyes
by PhantomJessica
Summary: You can't undo what you did in the past, but you can always strive to become a better person in the present and have a bright future. Cover art by zaffre7.
1. Chapter 1

_Genes and family may determine the foundation of the house, but time and place determine its form._

Jerome Kagan._  
_

Diet Cola Mountain. Warm, dark, secluded. Illuminated only by the molten liquid within, and a small amount of sunlight from the top that had recently been blown off.

People rarely visited here.

The air began to shimmer. Pixels moved towards one point, forming a blocky mass. They fluttered around each other, looking for a space to squeeze themselves into.

Having inserted his code into the game manually, he would stay. Almost like a parasite. A leech. Sucking the life force from a game that was not his own, as it unknowingly resurrected the very person almost responsible for it's destruction.

Eventually, the mass became vaguely spherical, or as spherical as a lump of glowing data blocks could get. A soft humming could be heard as most of the blocks settled into place.

And thus, the mass began to take on a slightly more human form. But it wasn't complete. He came back too young. Too weak.

Considering its job done, the respawn system dumped the individual on the ground, expelling its code from the system.

If he were to perish again, he would not be brought back.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: Discovery

Vanellope sighed as she ran her hand through her candy-coated hair, being a president was tough.

"Bill, if anyone asks for me, tell them I'm out on presidential business!" she called to her assistant, smiling as she said the last words. Though it was tough work, it was nice to be important instead of being the outcast. It still made her feel just a bit giddy.

She hopped into her kart and started it up, a puff of colourful sparkly dust shooting out of the straws on the sides before the vehicle shot off in the direction of Diet Cola Mountain. She wasn't sure why she was headed there, she just felt like she needed to see her former home one last time. Like it was calling to her. Or something. Whatever.

The rush of wind against her face was amazing. To her, it was the best feeling in the world. She sped up as she approached the two crossed sugar-free lollipops that signalled the entrance into the sugarless volcano. The president and her car skidded to a stop, and the candy coated girl jumped out.

Wow. The damage done to the mountain in order to form the make shift beacon was still having an effect, even to this day. She watched as a stray mentos fell from the damaged edges of hole blown through the top of the mountain. As per her usual luck, none of the splash hit her. However, she was not testing her luck and decided to wait until the eruption had stopped before making her way to her old shelter. The president sighed as she sat down on her old spongecake bed, smiling at its familiar softness.

However, her smile turned into a frown as another mentos fell from the top of the mountain. She shielded her face with her arm as the boiling hot soft drink splashed around her.

"...Why the heck did I come here again?" Vanellope questioned herself out loud as the sound of fizzing died down. With the background noise subdued, the candy haired racer thought she could hear something else. She cocked her head to side, trying to figure out what the sound was.

It sounded like someone was having trouble breathing, hindered by choking and hiccupping. Occasionally, the mystery individual would let out a soft whimper.

Someone was crying.

Vanellope got to her feet, surveying the area for whoever was making that sound. "H-hey.. Who's there?" She called out.

The sound got significantly quieter, as though whoever was crying was trying desperately not to be spotted.

And then another mentos fell from the top of the mountain. As the liquid fiery death shot up towards the top of the mountain once more, Vanellope could almost hear a faint shriek of alarm, and as the fizzing one again died down, the faint crying had turned into full on hysterical sobbing. She was able to pinpoint the location now, and eventually found a small lump, wrapped in a candy wrapper blanket obviously stolen from Vanellope's old makeshift home.

"Hey, take that off-" she said as she reaches for the edge of the wrapper and removes it from the individual so she can get a better look at their face, but the moment she sees those faintly glowing, yellow eyes that she knows too well, she screams.

He screamed too, flinching backwards.

"YOU!" she yelled, her fear and surprise turned rage. "Don't think you can trick me, I know who you are-"

The golden eyed boy whimpered and shielded his face, and it was then that Vanellope noticed the nasty burn on his wrist. The small boy was injured, and on top of that he was giving her the kind of look you'd give a giant racer-eating monster.

Pure fear.

Oh.

Vanellope felt an awful prickling in her stomach. Guilt. She felt sorry for the tiny Turbo.

He was small, with a head of scruffy raven hair that had a faint red sheen when light hit it just right. He wore a red t-shirt and gray track pants. His skin was a chalky white, opposed to the sickly gray she had seen on him before. Oh, and his eyes glowed.

"I... Hey...Guy, it's ok-" she attempted to calm him, gently reaching out to him. But once again, he flinched away. It was only when what was probably the last remaining mentos fell and once again caused an eruption that the boy shot forward, arms wrapped around Vanellope's waist, sobbing into her jumper. He was terrified.

"Shh... Shh... It's ok. I won't hurt you, lil guy..." she said softly, stroking his hair. "C'mon, I'll take you back to the castle.." she said, gently taking hold of the small boy's uninjured wrist and attempting to glitch in the direction of her new home, as she didn't want to risk having the boy hold on the back of her kart. However, all she managed to do was flicker for a moment. Something here was preventing her from being able to simply speed along as pure data.

She gave a heavy sigh. "Welp, I guess we'll have to walk..." but the boy looked like he was struggling to stay awake. His eyes were even rolling back as he blinked. Vanellope groaned in exasperation. "I guess you're gunna get a piggyback from the president then."

"Bill! Hey Billy-Boy! Could you do me a favour and get some dinner ready? Or tell the chefs to do it? Or whatever you do when you get me dinner? I'm starving!" Vanellope called as she opened the door to the castle, half out of truth and half to keep her assistant busy so he didn't see the young racer on her back.

"Right away, Miss President." He mumbled in his usual dead-pan grumpy tone.

With him out of the way, Vanellope smiled and bounced the boy gently to wake him up. He had fallen asleep, leaning on her back, which was currently aching from carrying him for so long. "Aye, headlights! We're here."

However, she didn't force him to get off her as she made her way to the bathroom. "Ay yi yi, you're heavy! What're you made of? Dark matter?" she chuckled at her own joke, but the boy mumbled what sounded like an apology, which made her frown.

"Hey, it was just a joke, no hard feelings."

She had intended to take the boy in simply to keep an eye on him, make sure he didn't cause any trouble. And probably lock him in the fungeon if he did cause any trouble. But right now, she couldn't help but feel as though it was her duty to be a babysitter for the boy.

Once they had reached the bathroom, she gently set him on the floor and went to the medicine cabinet. She picked out some bandages and some burn cream. Although it was best to run burns under cold water immediately after receiving them, she didn't know how long ago he had injured himself. So she simply decided to at least reduce the pain for now and have someone look at it later, after the boy had some much needed rest.

"This is gunna hurt a bit, but just tough it out. You're gunna be fine." She said as she gently took hold of his arm, turning it over to get a clear view of the burn. It wasn't anything close to 2nd degree, but it still looked painful.

The boy bit his lower lip as Vanellope gently spread the burn cream over the wound, the contact causing him to tear up a bit. He hissed quietly to himself but didn't pull away. Vanellope began thinking to herself as she applied gauze and bandages. Would the real Turbo allow himself to be treated like this? No, of course not. He probably wouldn't let her near him, kid form or not. So... who was this? A look-alike? A beta design? Or maybe his memory was corrupted? Regardless, she couldn't help but think that this boy was innocent. He was scared and hurt, and she wasn't going to leave him to fend for himself. No. She knew what being alone felt like, and wouldn't wish it on anyone, even if the boy did turn out to be Turbo.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Wow! I'm just shocked at how much positive attention my story's getting! Thanks so much you guys, also I'm sorry for taking so long with this chapter, we moved my writing computer from the den into my bedroom and that took a while.

Also, a few of you have been asking how old our lil' Kiddo is meant to be. Well, I didn't set on a specific age but I see Vanellope as a 12 year old (because she's a princess/president, it'd be really cute to have a 12 year old president leading a bunch of nine year olds. Hah.) But I know a lot of people headcanon her to be 9 like the other racers.

Baby Turbs is one year younger than Vanellope. I'll let the readers decide what age that is.

Chapter 2: a racer by any other name

Is still just as tu- fantastic. Yeah. Fantastic.

Soon after Vanellope brought the small boy to bed, he had fallen into a deep sleep, preventing her from asking any of the questions that buzzed around her mind. Not soon after, she had succumb to her own tiredness as well. She could eat extra breakfast in the morning, her tiredness outweighed her hunger.

However it was morning now, and the small boy had began gently nudging vanellope's shoulder in an attempt to wake her up.

"Um.. M-miss president..?" He asked, his voice soft and unsure.

"Mmwhat?" Vanellope grunted as she rubbed sleep out of her eyes, still tired from yesterday's escapades.

"Am I.. G-gunna have to leave now?" he asked, stuttering not only out of nervousness but what seemed like an actual problem with pronouncing words.

"Whaaat? No, of course not." She said with a yawn, stretching her arms as she sat up. "What made you think that, lil guy?"

"I-I thought... You didn't like me. Because when you first saw me youwereangryandyouyelledand-" it seemed like the kid had switched from slow stutter mode to verbal overdrive! It wasn't long before president Vanellope von Schweetz had silenced him by gently placing her index finger over his lips, the universal signal for quiet.

"I just... Thought you were someone else, ok?" she smiled. "Don't worry, I don't hate ya. In fact, I barely know you!" she patted her bed next to where she was sitting. "Sit down, I gotta ask you a couple a questions."

"So... You can't remember where you lived, how old you are, who your friends are..." this wasn't looking good. But at the same time, it was a good sign, if he couldn't remember anything about king candy, going turbo or trying to kill her, then there was a chance that this boy actually had nothing to do with turbo and it was all a big coincidence.

"...Do you remember your name?"

And it was with that question that the raven haired boy burst into tears.

"Woah, woah! Kid, calm down!"

He hiccupped and wheezed, crying in the same fashion that he was when she found him. "I don't—remember—" he hiccupped and coughed "Anythii-hii-hiiingg! I thought you'datleast know whoiwas, but you don't, nobodydoes, and-andand-"

Vanellope didn't realize what she was doing until she had embraced the young boy, and was stroking his back. "Shhh... Shhh... Everything's going to be ok. You're ok. You're ok." She soothed, and the boy's crying died down to a quiet whimper.

Vanellope was surprised at how often the boy cried. Then again, she couldn't blame him, after all he had probably woken up in a strange place and then gotten hurt almost instantly, on top of the fact that he had no idea who he was, where he was or why he even existed. If he did turn out to be Turbo, this was either the game world's way of punishing him, or giving him another chance to redeem himself.

"Hey, everything'll be ok, okay?" she reassured him, continuing only after the promise earned she small nod from the one she was currently attempting to calm. "We can't just call you kid, though. You need a name..." she pondered, allowing her arms to drop away from the hug so she could scratch her head. She didn't want to call him Turbo, because that was just tempting fate. "I'm not gunna name you somethin' weird like headlights or marshmallow... That'd just be mean." Only after she said it did she notice him tear up once more. "Ah nonono, kid, I don't mean it like that! Your eyes are great! Erhh—" she thought frantically for a moment, "Like stars!"

He sniffled. "R-really..?"

"Yeah, c'mon Bright-Eyes, turn that frown upside down! Wait..." she smiled as an idea dawned upon her. "Bright Eyes! That's what we'll call you! Lil' Bright! How does that sound?"

"I... I like that name..." he smiled.

"Great! Bright eyes it is. Now you stay here while I go and fetch us some breakfast."

It had taken about half an hour of unsuccessful negotiation before Vanellope resorted to pulling rank on her assistant.

"Bill, I forbid you from telling ANYONE about Bright. There WILL be consequences." She said sternly, hands on her hips. "And don't you DARE call him you-know-who." The young one's eyes narrowed dangerously. "_Understand?_"

The sour candy ball known as Bill was surprised at just how intimidating Vanellope looked. She had the same fire in her eyes that you would see in a mother wolf protecting her pups. He opened his mouth to say something back there came a faint voice from the doorway out of the room.

"Um.. are you... fighting about m-me...?" Bright asked, peeking from around the corner of the doorway, his golden eyes glowing slightly in the shade cast by the arch of the frame. His chalk white face wore an expression of worry. He had only been able to catch the very end of the conversation, and therefore was unsure of the topic. But he had a feeling it might have been him.

"No way, sweety! We weren't even fighting. We were just discussing some things." She shot a look at the candy ball. "Weren't we, Bill?"

"Yes Ms President." He replied, back to his deadpan unimpressed tone, per the usual.

"Um... Then... Can we have breakfast now?"

"Good idea. Billy-boy, go and ask the chef to make us some oatmeal."

They ate in Vanellope's bedroom, as she didn't want anybody to see bright just yet. At first he was hesitant, but after his first spoonful of the honey flavoured oats, he was pretty much shovelling it into his mouth. Vanellope smiled at this, no wonder he was so eager to eat, it was probably the first meal he's ever had.

But that smile turned to a frown. The boy's extremely pale complexion could be ignored, but his eyes were a glaring reminder of a certain someone. She needed to find a way to mask them. Then she remembered something.

Turbo's King Candy disguise had a set of yellow goggles. They might be enough to hide Lil Bright's eyes, making it seem as though it was just the colour of his goggles and not his eyes themselves.

But first, she'd need to find them. When was the last time the phony king was seen wearing them? Would they still even exist?

Hm. She'd have to go looking for them.


	4. Chapter 4

Vanellope put her hand to her chin as she thought. The last time she had seen the golden goggles was in the tunnel whilst she and King Candy were… She stopped herself. She wasn't going to let her thoughts stray in that direction.

The tunnel, she could visit there after the arcade closes so she doesn't mess up the-

Hold on, she was on the racing roster today, wasn't she? And her kart was at diet cola mountain!

"Oh no! I gotta go, Bill, look after Bright Eyes while I'm gone!"

Before the sour candy ball could protest, Vanellope had glitched out the window and was zipping in the direction of the volcano in the distance. Sour Bill looked in the direction of the gray-skinned kid who was just taller than him.

"…Hiii?" Bright's voice squeaked.

Vanellope's image rippled and flickered as she came to a stop outside the mountain. Something was stopping her from glitching again, reducing her speedy data jumping to the spasmodic flickering that she used to endure daily before she learnt to the control it. With an annoyed huff, she ran the remainder of the way, phasing through the false barrier and emerging inside the unfinished level.

She felt a shiver run down her spine¸ something just wasn't right here. Shrugging the feeling off, she ran to her kart and jumped in the seat, vaulting over the side. With a rev of the engine, she was off, just in time too. The daily races were about to start.

Bright surveyed the castle curiously, inspecting the candy walls that seemed to have sparkles embedded in their faint sugar dust coating.

It was very... Pink.

"Um.. Mr Bill?"

"Mmyes?"

"Do'ya think... Maybe.. We should do something for Vani for when she comes back? I mean, she's been so nice to me and I really want to make her something nice and-"

"There are candy craft supplies in the storeroom, up the stairs on the left."

"Thank you, mister Bill!"

There were a lot of stairs in this castle.

And a certain Bright Eyed kid had managed to get himself lost. He walked slowly, not sure why he didn't just stop and stay in one place until someone found him. The only thing he could hear as he plodded along where his own footsteps, echoing. A few sugar crystals crunched under foot, but apart from his breathing that was the only thing he could hear.

Why was this castle so _big? _And why was he wandering around like this? Why was there-

His train of thought was interrupted as his yellow eyes focused on a rather odd looking door. It didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the castle, being made of heavy wood with a rather large padlock instead of the same sugary confections as the rest. He approached it, and gently ran his hand down the frame of it, it being the first non-candy thing that he had seen, but he was still able to recognise the material in a heartbeat.

_Wood – Comes from trees – viewer stands and the podium are made of these._

What podium? Whatever, Bright shook his head free of these thoughts.

He reached up and gently held the lock in his hands, but pulled away as it rippled with red blocks at his touch. In a second it vanished, leaving Bright staring bewildered at his hands. He put his hands against the door, feeling it creak a bit. He took a deep breath and pushed-

"BRIGHT EYES! There you are!"-

He let out a small squeak of surprise as someone lifted him up from behind.

The mystery figure hugged him close and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh gobstoppers I thought you fell down a staircase or something I'm so so sosososo glad you're okay! I can't BELIEVE Bill let you wander off like that when we get back I am going to give him a piece of my mind-" It was Vanellope. Bright Eyes felt a faint pang of regret, he had actually found the storage room that Sour Bill had directed him towards, but he had kept going due to his own immature curiosity. He didn't want Bill to get in trouble for his mistake.

"U-Um, Van.. It wasn't his fault I wandered off—"

"What? No, sweety. He shouldn't have left you unattended."

His brows creased slightly, he didn't like being treated like a child. Despite being a.. Well, a child. He could take care of himself…! Something in him felt as though he deserved respect, he wasn't sure why. He had woken up in the middle of an unknown place with basic knowledge of the world and no memories, he barely knew what his own personality WAS at this stage, so why did he feel like he needed respect? His train of thought was interrupted as Vanellope pulled him by his sleeve towards the main hall of the castle.

He allowed his mind to stew on these thoughts and wondered about what was behind that mystery door.

Bright scribbled on a piece of construction paper absentmindedly as he listened to the heated 'discussion' between President Vanellope and Sour Bill. His Gold Goggles that Vanellope found for him were perched on his forehead, ruffling his fringe. He drew a star with glue and dusted it with glitter, straining his ears to make out the muffled argument.

"-Not even I knew what was – that room –"

He bit his lower lip, regret pooling in his gut. He had gotten sour Bill in trouble. He sighed as he sprinkled more glitter on to his little art project, making it shimmer a bit with red.

"—Lock was gone!"

He wasn't very good at drawing, but the glitter made it okay he guessed. He hmm'd, thinking about what he could do to make his present for Vanellope look better.

"What about the stairs? Or the window? What if he FELL? KEEP A BETTER EYE ON HIM."

He flinched.

Needs more pink. Her castle was pink, so she probably liked that colour. He was about to sprinkle even more glitter onto his project when after what seemed like an eternity, Bill and Vanellope re-entered the room.

"Okay, so! Bill, please go and prepare a bedroom for Bright." The president said, sounding a bit too formal. Bright offered Bill an 'I'm sorry' glance as he left, but got no response.

"Whatcha drawin' there, shorty?" The candy-haired racer asked, fiddling with one of her jumper's drawstrings.

"..It's a present.. For you and Mister Bill, for being so nice to me and giving me a place to stay." He said quietly, screwing the lid back on a pot of glitter.

"Oh, really? Lemme see!"

Bright complied, but as soon as he lifted the artwork up to give her a better view, more than half of the glitter slid off of the paper and onto the floor. Vanellope seemed stunned for a moment, watching the ridiculous amount of sparkling specs scatter on the floor, a few of them landing on – or in – her shoes. Bright flinched.

"…Oops?" He was certain that he was going to get in big trouble. Vanellope's eyes flicked from the mess on the floor to Bright's awkward expression to the seemingly naked artwork, then—

She laughed.

"Sheesh, Bright! Didja use enough glitter?" She giggled and snorted, and Bright sighed in relief.

"Hey kid, don't worry. Your art looks great, glitter or not." She kicked her shoes a bit, scattering the glinting specs. "Just try usin' more glue next time." She smirked. "Welp, Bill can't clean this up because he's working on putting together a certain someone's bedroom, so I guess it's up to us. I'mma go get the broom-"

Bright sneezed, sending the sparkles everywhere. Vanellope couldn't help but giggle, blowing a few back at him. This soon evolved into a full on glitter-war, the pair giggling and chasing each other around the room.

"…Miss President?" Bill interrupted the silly little game, raising an eyebrow at the mess.

"Oh! Bill! We were…We were just about to clean up. Honest." Vanellope said, wiping her face on her sleeve. Bright nodded, taking his goggles off and shaking them free of the glitter.

"Of course you were." The green sphere drawled slowly. "The room is ready. I'll clean this up."

"Oh, um. Okay. C'mere Bright." Vanellope grabbed the shorter one's hand and directed him up the stairs, as Sour Bill sighed and began cleaning the colossal, sparkling mess.


End file.
